The San Jose State University women’s swimming and diving team went 3-1 in a five-way dual meet at The Aquatics Center on Saturday, December 3.

The Spartans topped Loyola Marymount University (214-65) and UC Santa Cruz (234-63) comfortably, while also defeating Western Athletic Conference foe University of Idaho, 192-87. San Jose State was narrowly beaten by another WAC opponent, Nevada, 149-148.

Despite outscoring the Spartans 32-4 over two diving events, the visiting Wolf Pack had just a slim five-point lead heading into the final two events of the afternoon, but held the home side off. Nevada earned 14 points in the 200 IM, taking first, third and fourth, while San Jose State was second and fifth for five points, putting the tally at 147-133 with just the 200 free relay to go. Though the Spartans went one-two in the event, it was not enough.

The highlights for San Jose State included a lifetime-best 10:29.39 in the 1000 free for sophomore Melissa Logan to finish third, wins for seniors Lisa Covey in the 200 free (1:55.70) and Alli Adams in the 100 breast (1:06.51), a sweep of the top three spots in the 50 free by junior Brie Marhenke (23.66), sophomore China Cho (24.73) and senior Kelly Thoni (24.81), a one-two finish by Marhenke (51.90) and Cho (53.67) in the 100 free, a win by Logan in the 500 free in 5:06.08, and the one-two finish in the 200 free relay. The SJSU ‘A’ relay which won the event consisted of Thoni, Cho, Marhenke and freshman Lauren Mar, while the ‘B’ squad was made up of freshman Sarah Colvin, Covey, junior Ksenija Poljak and freshman Corinne Wilson. In all, of the 16 events, San Jose State had five individual and one relay victory.

“Among our top performances was Brie (Marhenke) remaining undefeated on the year in dual competition in the 50 free, and her 22.76 split in the 200 free relay,” said first-year interim head coach Sage Hopkins, who nearly guided San Jose State to its first win over Nevada in years.

Though Marhenke was the lone multiple-event winner for San Jose State, Nevada freshman Kim Kabesh had the most first-place finishes on the day. Kabesh won the 100 fly (58.30), 200 fly (2:06.29) and 200 back (2:09.35) individually, after she had begun the meet by anchoring the Wolf Pack’s first-place 200 medley relay in 1:48.13. Junior teammate Li Bei, also a member of the 200 medley relay, won the 200 IM (2:09.66) and produced second-place swims in the 100 breast (1:07.19) and 200 breast (2:23.84). Nevada swept the top three spots on both the one-meter and three-meter diving boards.

Junior Lauren Mathewson (100 back, 59.23) was the lone event-winner for Loyola Marymount, while sophomores Paige Lee (1000 free, 10:28.66) and JoJo Miller (200 breast, 2:23.56) each were winners for Idaho.

The Spartans completed the meet with five lifetime-bests, 14 unshaved lifetime-bests and five season-bests, having gone into the meet with team goals of four, 10 and four, respectively.

“I’m certainly very pleased with our performance in the pool today,” remarked Hopkins. “I certainly would have liked to get an extra two points (to top Nevada), but for the meet to be that close, says a lot about the level of the performances of our swimmers, and the improvement of the program.”

San Jose State now has over a month off from competition prior to a dual meet against WAC foe University of San Diego in San Diego, Calif., on Saturday, January 11, beginning at 1:30 p.m